Now, Our Salvation Is Nearer

Now, Our Salvation is nearer

“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; For now, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” Romans 13:11

We are entering into a testable moment of time in our lives. Not only in terms of virtual church services. Not only in terms of Coronavirus restrictions. But most importantly, in terms of spiritual growth and development.

Spirituality doesn’t mean something on the inside or is private. Spirituality includes both our physical and emotional life. Our spiritual life includes us as a whole, our whole being.

St Paul, says, “You know what time it is; it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep” (Romans 13:11). We cannot afford to be sluggish in our spiritual life. We cannot afford to neglect it. And that’s exactly what we are doing with our whole lives. We have life to prepare and meet the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ and enter into His eternal joy. St Paul continues, because “salvation is closer to us now than when we became believers”

Do you know what time it is? Many people are living in their own world, and they don’t know what’s going on spiritually. They are not living in the real spiritual world. They don’t recognize what’s going on, and what is going to happen in this world and perhaps in their own lives. They need a wakeup call of some kind.

II Timothy 3:1-5 “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”

ILLUSTRATION: In India, 59-year-old P Jayaraj and his 31-year-old son J Fenix were picked up for questioning by the Sathankulam police for keeping their mobile accessories shop open during the lockdown on June 19. They were beaten by the police while in custody, leading to their deaths. While Fenix fell ill and died at the Kovilpatti General Hospital on June 22, his father died on the morning of June 23.

A Chennai-based news site stated that the father-son duo came out of prison in a disordered state with torn and bloodied clothes. He added that they complained of severe rectum pain and kept bleeding from their rectum.

The Federal quoted a friend of Fenix as saying, “Between 7 am and 12 pm on June 20, the father and son had changed at least seven lungies (waistcloth) each as they had become wet due to blood oozing from their rectums,” They were taken to a hospital after being released from prison, where the doctor allegedly declared the duo fit and able, according to the insistence of the local inspector. Fenix and his father were then taken to the judicial magistrate, but reportedly could not tell the truth of their torture due to repeated threats from the police.

Friends of Fenix, who were present at the police station when the police rounded them up, told the news outlet that for three hours they heard only the screams and cries of Jayaraj and Fenix. "Throughout the night, both of them cried for help and people residing about 500 meters away from the station could hear that,” the eyewitness reportedly said.

Dear Brothers, and Sisters in Christ! We are living in an ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, and brutal society. Rather than lovers of good, they are treacherous, rash, conceited, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

II Corinthians 5:7-9 “We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So, we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”

Some people live for play and pleasure when we should all be living to please God. Life begins with God and life ends with God. We need to sandwich God in between throughout our lives. He should be in the middle of everything we do in life.

Romans 13:11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. How shall we prepare ourselves for salvation? What must we do?

1. Let us cast off the works of Darkness

2. Let us walk properly as in the Day

3. Let us Put on the Lord Jesus Christ

So, this is not a time for us to be groggy or sleepy. This is a time for us to be alert and wakeful. Jesus said it, over and over in the gospels, "Wake up! Be alert! Don't fall asleep! Keep your eyes open! Be on your guard! Look out!" Don't just get lulled to sleep by what's going on around you.